About Smart.Homes
An independent research site for home security and smart home technology, funded by affiliate commissions and installer referrals — and clear about both.
Smart.Homes exists because buying home security is unnecessarily difficult. Pricing is quote-based and hard to compare. Packages are structured so no two are equivalent. Contracts run for years. And most of the advice available online is written to maximise commission rather than to answer the question.
What we do
We research. We assess home security systems, cameras, doorbells, locks, thermostats and window treatments against a fixed set of criteria, and publish the reasoning so you can disagree with it. Our methodology sets out exactly how, including what we cannot claim.
We connect. When a project genuinely needs a professional — hardwired cameras, whole-home lighting, motorised shades, a large property — we introduce you to one licensed, insured local installer. Free, no obligation, and not a bidding pool.
What we will not do
- Sell rankings. No brand can pay for a score, a position or inclusion.
- Show reviews to brands before publication. We do not send drafts for approval.
- Distribute your enquiry to multiple companies. One match, not an auction.
- Hide the unflattering facts. Every review states where the product falls short, including for companies we earn from.
- Pretend everyone needs an expensive system. Our guides repeatedly say a $250 DIY kit is enough, and that self-monitoring suits many households. Both cost us money.
Why the free quote service exists
The obvious question about a research site that also generates leads is whether the second thing corrupts the first.
Our answer is that the two are structurally separated. The research does not push you toward professional installation — read our DIY guide, which spends most of its length explaining how to install a system yourself and only then lists the specific cases where a professional is worth paying for.
The quote service exists because those cases are real. Running cable through finished walls, fitting mains-powered equipment, specifying made-to-measure shades and covering a large property are genuinely not DIY jobs, and finding a competent installer is its own difficult problem. We vet installers individually — for licensing and insurance, not brand affiliation — because that is the part homeowners cannot easily do themselves.
How we are funded
Affiliate commissions when readers buy through our links, and referral fees from installers we introduce you to. You pay nothing either way. Neither affects our ratings, and the specific rules we hold ourselves to are in our disclosure.
Editorial standards
We state who it is not for
Every review includes a “look elsewhere if” verdict. Knowing when not to buy something is usually more useful than knowing when to.
We date everything
Pricing changes constantly. Every figure is a range with a verification date, and every page shows when it was last updated.
We flag weak evidence
Where a widely-quoted statistic does not survive scrutiny, we say so — see our statistics guide.
We correct openly
Substantive corrections are noted on the page rather than made silently. Email corrections@smart.homes.
Contact
General enquiries: hello@smart.homes
Corrections: corrections@smart.homes
Privacy: privacy@smart.homes
More ways to reach us on our contact page.